


The Stranger

by EtherealPrince



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics but not mentioned outright, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pregnancy, kidfic kind of, ocs but only for plot not romance, the apprentice isnt in this much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 23:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15873783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtherealPrince/pseuds/EtherealPrince
Summary: Korina remembers the day the stranger came into town.------------this is a short, asra-centric work that's honestly really just self-indulgent and bittersweet. remember that little cottage in nopal he took the apprentice to? this is a version of how he got it in the first place, with added hurt/comfort and omegaverse.the structure of this fic might look a bit weird, and i apologize for that.





	1. Chapter 1

Korina remembers the day the young stranger came into town. He was a young man, dark skin and pure white hair, cloaked in silks and chiffon and muslin, and he carried himself as if he was scared.

 

She lived next door to an inn on the edge of Nopal—the young man came up and knocked on their front door. The innkeeper opened up and looked down at him (Victor was a tall, intimidating man, but a fair innkeeper), surprised at his presence. Most didn’t _knock_ — both he and Korina knew he was an outsider from that alone.

 

She could overhear their conversation just well enough, so she leaned against the frame of her little house’s front door and eavesdropped.

 

“I need a place to stay.”

 

“What for? You on vacation, outsider?”

 

The foreigner hesitates, one hand grasping the deep red scarf wrapped around his neck. It looks like he abandons all pride before he speaks again.

 

“—I’m pregnant. I’m staying in Nopal until I have my baby, and I desperately need somewhere to stay. If there’s no room in the inn, I’ll take whatever’s free. Please.”

 

Victor seems to reel in surprise, both by the man’s forwardness and his confession. He turns to look back into the lobby of the inn, then back at the traveller. Korina’s eyes widen from her door. She needed to hear the conversation out ‘till the end.

 

“I’m sorry, boy, but there’s no free rooms at the inn right now. Folks in town are friendly, ask around and someone might have an extra room—but there are none here.” With somewhat of an apologetic look, he nods toward the young man then closes the door to the inn.

 

The foreigner drops his head to his chest, breathing in and out as if he was trying to calm himself—or keep himself from crying.

 

Korina then decided that she couldn’t just watch him stand there miserably forever, so she took a few steps outside of her house and called out to him.

 

“Hey, you!”

 

The man jerks, white hair bouncing as he looks up quickly to meet her eye. He takes a hesitant step toward her, then walks over to where she was in the shade of her awning.

 

“I know a place you can stay.” She tells him. Instantly, his face melts in relief and he reaches out to grasp her hands, skin silky-soft.

 

“Thank you, so much. Thank you, I’ll be in your debt forever. Where is it?” He asks, smiling.

 

“My sister used to live in a small adobe cottage a ways away from here. It’s a bit far from the village, but it’s well-stocked and has a well nearby. She moved to Nevivon, and ever since it’s been empty—you can stay there.”

 

The man’s face softens at her mention of the town up north, with something like recognition.

 

“Yes, that sounds perfect. Thank you so much, again, I’m so grateful. If you don’t mind, could you show me the way?”

 

With a grin of her own, Korina nods, turning away and motioning for the man to join her.

 

“Sure can. And just for comfort purposes, is there a name I can call you?”

 

She hears a soft voice from behind her say, “Asra.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! this is my first work on ao3, and i half-wrote this because the idea popped into my head and wouldn't leave and half because there aren't enough abo fics in the arcana fandom. obviously this trope isnt everyone's cup of tea, but if it is then hello, and thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

A short ten minutes later, Korina and Asra come up on an adobe cottage on top of a hill a ways away from Nopal. As she had said, a small brick well sat next to it, and a flourishing cactus and succulent garden ringed its walls. Asra’s face lights up, and he slowly walks over to the well, running a light hand over the dusty bricks. There’s no water in it, but he holds a hand over its center and a moment later Korina can hear water bubbling up from the ground.

 

…She has no idea how that could’ve happened.

 

“It’s perfect.” The young man murmurs, eyes fixed on the plants around him in the ground. The blooming cactus flowers were flourishing, red and orange blossoms surrounding the cottage.

 

“I’m glad you like it!” She responds, climbing up the hill to join him. “It’s a bit small, but there’s a kitchen and a bed, and the village market is every weekend, so you’ll be able to get food and such. Or you can find me, and I’ll help you out—I hate to see new parents have a hard time.”

 

“Do you have children of your own?” Asra asks, somewhat hesitantly.

 

“No, but I have a lot of friends who do. You’re no different, except I don’t know what possessed you to come all the way to Nopal—where are you from?”

 

“Vesuvia.” He answers, and by his tone Korina doesn’t believe it. She doesn’t question, though, and nods, leaning forward to open the door to the cottage.

 

Light streams into the small house through the wide windows, filling the room with gold. There’s a soft bed in one corner with a shelf above it, another shelf next to the bed, and a cupboard and table next to the opposite wall. Korina saw that Asra was carrying a shoulder bag with him, so he’d most likely take his time to fill the cottage with his personal belongings to make it feel more like home. By what she had heard from him so far, that would be a hard task. Didn’t he have a lover somewhere? Didn’t he have a husband or a wife, a partner who could help him and comfort him when he needed it? Perhaps he was abandoned, or driven out of town, or was too scared to face someone who never wanted a baby to raise.

 

If he wanted to see her again for help, Korina definitely wouldn’t mind.

 

“All the necessities. Like Victor said, people around town are kind, so if you need anything in particular don’t hesitate to ask.” She snaps her fingers, remembering something. “Oh! And I know someone who knows a midwife, so if you need help when the baby comes I can get her over here to help you out.”

 

Asra nods, listening carefully. He runs his hand over the sheets on the bed, and Korina notices his eyes are closed. His eyelashes are white.

 

“Thank you.” He says again, softer. “Thank you.”

 

“Of course. You’ve seen where I live, if you need anything just call.”

 

Asra smiles, opening his eyes. “I will. Thank you...?”

 

“Korina.” She says, opening the door to the cottage again. “Welcome to Nopal, Asra and tiny Asra.”

 

She hears him laugh and bid her farewell in return before she exits the cottage, closing the door behind her. As she walks back to her own home, the young traveller fills her thoughts.

 

What a strange, and beautiful person.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next five months, Korina ended up seeing Asra multiple times again. The first time they met up after he came to Nopal, it was to ask her how to navigate the weekend market. She walked him around, helped him pick out food that was healthy for both he and the baby, and introduced him so a few people she knew along the way. He told her that he was a regular in the daily market back in Vesuvia, that he knew the breadmaker and got pumpkin bread every day to bring back to his home.

 

He said ‘home’, and then he got quiet. There was something about his home that wasn’t very comforting anymore, she assumed. 

 

Bar emotional walls, they finished their trip quickly and when they parted ways to head home, Asra thanked her again for her hospitality. Of course, it was no problem.

 

They saw each other every couple of weeks or so.

 

Korina thought that they had became something like friends—they invited each other over to their homes, Korina because she had cooked too much for one person and Asra because he felt he needed to pay her back for her kindness.

 

She learned he was a magician.

 

He read her tarot cards, showed her visions, made water bubble up out of the ground with just a wave of his hand. He told her that he knew his baby was a girl, even before it was even possible for anyone normal to tell.

 

Karina found Asra absolutely fascinating, even though they didn’t see each other often. Sometimes when she went on walks in the morning, she’d see him getting water from the well or watering the plants, bending over carefully to avoid pain in his aching lower back. He’d dress light, fitting in well with the Nopal natives who lived in heat and sand year-round. His robes, white and purple and gold, flowed around his ankles and were pulled taut across his heavy midsection. He looked like a mirage.

 

He kept the cottage clean, Korina noticed, because every time she came over it was free-er of dust and had more interesting little knick-knacks lining the shelves on the walls. Asra moved in nicely, quickly getting used to his solitary, easy-going life.

 

Late into his pregnancy, Korina found herself coming to him more often than he came to her, more than happy to buy certain things for him or call certain people over (he had apparently struck up a bit of a fortune-telling business for a bit of extra money). He was kind and thankful every time, and sometimes she’d stay while he cooked dinner or to simply relax and talk for a while. She learned that the father of his baby didn’t know of the nature of his disappearance from Vesuvia, and that even though they did love each other Asra very strongly believed that his partner wasn’t ready to be a father, and that a wrench would be thrown into their relationship if he learned of his pregnancy.

 

She told him she hoped that they would find peace if he ever returned home. He said he hoped so too.

 

One day, on her weekly visit to see Asra, she found him kneeling next to his bed with his head on the mattress, one hand cushioning his forehead and the other holding his stomach.

 

She asked him if he was alright, fearing the worst—

 

And it did indeed happen to be the worst.

 

"You said you knew a midwife?” She heard him ask, voice tight with pain. 

With a quick confirmation, she ran out the door of the cottage and further into town to find her friend, Maria. Her girlfriend was a midwife by trade, and since they lived together she was the one who answered the door.

 

“I have a friend who’s in labor-- I know this is short notice, and I’m sorry, but can you help?”

 

Luckily for Korina, she agreed, and the two quickly made their way back to Asra’s cottage. If anything he seemed relieved to have both women there, but he couldn’t express much more than a pained smile in his state.

 

She stood by during the process of labor, only because she knew she’d be more helpful with moral support than any kind of medical support.

 

It was torturous to see someone she cared about in so much pain, though.

 

Asra was a calm, laid-back person. He always seemed like he knew what was going on and that he had an answer for anything, but as Korina watched him writhe and sob in pain and beg for someone, begged for a Lukas to be there and apologized to whoever he was in the same breath, that entire facade was thrown out the window.

 

It took hours.

 

Apparently his labor had started some time before Korina had ever found him, but the midwife confirmed that he was only mostly dilated by the time she got to check on his status. It was a long time before she confirmed he could push, and longer than that before the baby’s head slipped out.

 

The contractions had stopped for a minute, and Korina took Asra’s limp hand and guided it between his legs—he could feel the light crown of hair that dotted his baby’s head. When she saw his face break out into an exhausted smile, she knew they’d all get through this. All four of them.

 

“Just a bit longer.” She whispered.

 

It was another hour before that agonizing pain and pressure released and the baby was officially born. Korina collapsed against the wall next to the bed, pulled there by Asra when he finally got to relax. His chest was moving up and down so harshly that she thought he was going into arrest, but the midwife assured her that he was just tired, in the most extreme and painful way possible.

 

The baby was cleaned, the cord cut, and once the afterbirth was disposed of the midwife placed it on Asra’s chest. Korina could tell he wanted nothing more than to sleep for no less than a week, but the child’s soft cries and the weight of it on his chest was enough to make him open his eyes and bring his arms up to hold it.

 

He looked at the baby like it was the most precious gem that could ever be found, like it was the sun and the moon and all the stars all in one, like it was the center of the universe. He didn’t seem to notice the midwife cleaning him up, not Korina leaning on the wall next to him and smiling at the baby’s bright, green eyes.

 

Asra’s eyes were purple.

 

After a minute, he closed his eyes, breathing out heavily like he just remembered the birthing.

 

“Thank you.” he whispered.

 

The midwife said he was very welcome, and with a smile toward Korina quietly left the new parent to spend time with his baby.

 

“Do you want me to leave you alone?” She asks him quietly, as not to disturb the infant.

 

Asra seemed to think for a moment.

 

“…Maybe? Yes, I think so. I’m eternally grateful for how much you’ve helped me, helped _us,_ and I really hope you know that, but…yeah, I think I just want to be alone with…”

 

He trails off.

 

“Did you ever catch what their sex was?” He asks, almost embarrassed.

 

Korina laughs, standing from the bed.

 

“It’s a girl.” She says.

 

Asra’s eyes twinkle in the sunlight.

 

“My baby girl, then. Thank you for giving us privacy, and for helping with my labor.”

 

“Any time.” Korina answers, and with a wave leaves the cottage so that her friend and his baby could get to know each other.


	4. Chapter 4

A week after the baby’s birth, Korina heard a knock on her door, which turned out to be Asra back in his traveling cloak, bag slung over his shoulder and daughter in a sling over his chest.

 

“You’re going back to Vesuvia?” She asks, not wanting him to go.

 

“Yes. I’m going to face my partner, explain everything, and hope he doesn’t get too mad.” He says with an apologetic smile. He has dimples, she notices.

 

“I don’t think he will. Who can resist a face like yours and a face like hers?” She jokes, gesturing toward the yawning baby in the sling.

 

“Hopefully not Lukas.” He says.

 

So /that’s/ who it was. Lukas was Asra’s lover, the father to his child. Korina swore, if he didn’t accept both his partner and their baby, she’d head to Vesuvia to give him a piece of her mind herself.

 

“Hopefully not. Safe travels, then?” She says, holding out a hand.

 

Instead, Asra leans forward and hugs her with one arm, careful of the baby at his chest.

 

“Of course. If I ever come back to Nopal, I’ll seek you out. You’ve been more kind to me than anyone else I’ve ever known.”

 

When he lets go of her shoulder, his handprint seems to stay there, a spot of heat on her back. He notices her reach back and scratch at her shoulder because of it.

 

“You’ll be protected from danger wherever you go; there are little good luck charms I can use that are very helpful in cases like these.”

 

Korina laughs, thanking him, and he reaches into his sling to pick up his baby’s hand and wave it at her.

 

She waves back, of course, and keeps waving while the two turn and disappear into the dust.

 

What a strange, beautiful person.

 

What a precious, loyal friend.

 

The Magician- I.

 

The Wheel of Fortune- XI.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Korina is represented by the wheel of fortune, the major arcana that represents good luck, destiny, and important turning points in life.


	5. Epilogue

Years later, Asra and Lukas return to Nopal with their daughter, Maera. Asra wants Lukas to work on his magic so they can go back to Vesuvia and face the darkness rising within.

 

He asks around about a woman named Korina.

 

He learns that she died of the red plague when it ravaged Vesuvia and any surrounding towns. She was buried next to her home, under the bottlebrush tree.

 

They stay in the cottage that night-- the same place where Korina had welcomed him and comforted him, where they had shared food and drink. He had told her fortune and given her his blessing in luck, and romance, and she had held her palm to his stomach when Maera was giving him trouble.

 

There was so much history in the tiny adobe cottage, so much that neither Maera nor Lukas knew.

 

When they’re all supposed to be asleep, Asra quietly slips outside and goes to sit on the edge of the well under the stars, where neither his lover nor his child could hear him weep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading and putting up with this, hah!  
> (Lukas is, of course, my apprentice.)


End file.
